The battle over a planned Woolworths supermarket at a local shopping complex in Belconnen will go to the highest court in the land.
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A High Court challenge by a group of rival northern suburbs retailers is all that now prevents the development going ahead at Giralang shops after the ACT government refused to pursue allegations of dirty tricks against the national groceries giant.
The bitter dispute, between the property owners Nikias Nominees and Woolworths on one side and local IGA grocery stores backed by Supabarn on the other, has rumbled on for nine years while the suburb's local shops have stood derelict.
The Canberra Times revealed in October that allegations had been made to Planning Minister Simon Corbell that a bid to build a new Woolworths supermarket at Giralang was underpinned by documents that dramatically underplayed the full impact of the development on the grocery business in Belconnen.
It was alleged that one set of numbers for the shop's projected turnover and its impact on surrounding suburbs was supplied to the planning authorities, while another different set of numbers was kept secret by Woolworths.
The rival grocers wanted Planning Minister Simon Corbell to withdraw his consent, granted in 2011 under controversial ''call-in'' powers, alleging the minister was ''misled'' about the impact of the proposal
Both Woolworths and the owners of the site, Nikias Nominees, denied any misleading conduct.
Mr Corbell has written to Kaleen Woolworths' accuser, Kaleen supermarket owner Chris Haridemos, telling him the government will not pursue the allegations.
The minister cited a legal technicality, saying the documents used as evidence by the retailer had been obtained as part of a Supreme Court case against the supermarket project and Mr Corbell was not legally able to consider them.
The minister's decision comes in the wake of another loss for the opponents of the project, the failure in November of their appeal against an earlier Supreme Court decision that backed Mr Corbell's call-in decision.
The rival operators have launched several legal actions and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is still investigating allegations that Woolworths is trying to put other northern suburbs supermarkets out of business.
On Friday, the rival operators lodged a case with the High Court looking to have their earlier legal losses overturned.
Mr Haridemos said he and his colleagues had maintained that the proposed supermarket broke nearly all the planning rules for the site.
''As I have said now on many occasions, this dispute is not about competition,'' Mr Haridemos said.
''I do not care who the operator of any new supermarket at Giralang is; my only concern is that any such supermarket is of a size and scale appropriate to a local centre.
''The supermarket as currently proposed is clearly not.''
A Woolworths spokeswoman welcomed the company's win.
''We are looking forward to working with our developer and providing more choice, value and convenience to shoppers in Giralang,'' she said.
''The new store will also create approximately 50 new jobs.''
Combined Residents Action Association spokesman Anthony Senti said a group centre in a local centre would result in the loss of shopping amenities in Evatt and Kaleen.
